Incumbents win re-election to Blairsville City Council

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Left to Right: Rhonda Mahan, Mary Ruth Cook, Kayla Hemphill)

By Shawn Jarrard

Results are in for the Blairsville General Election that ran Tuesday, Nov. 7, and for the three incumbents, it’s four more years.

Three Blairsville City Council seats were up for grabs in the 2023 municipal election, and since city election outcomes are determined by plurality vote, only the Top 3 vote-getters could win.

And the winners were Incumbent Councilwomen Rhonda Mahan with 30 votes, Mary Ruth Cook with 30 votes and Kayla Hemphill with 31 votes.

Blairsville resident Frank Pack, who qualified in August as the fourth candidate in the race alongside the incumbents, received the least number of votes at 4.

Following their victories, the three councilwomen will be swearing into new terms of office to run Jan. 1, 2024, through Dec. 31, 2027.

Mahan has been on the City Council since January of 2002. By the time her current term expires at the end of December, she will have served five full terms and two years of a special election term for a total of 22 years on the council.

Cook is coming up on the end of her first full term after serving two years and a month of a special election term that started in December 2017, for a total of six years and one month on the council by the end of the year.

Hemphill won a special election in November 2021 to fill an unexpired term and will have served two years and two months when that term expires after Dec. 31.